Best intentions - I was going to post some thrilling updates during our recent two week road trip from Florida to New Hampshire (and back!). Of course you just get too caught up in enjoying it all, and don't want to sacrifice any time to staring at a computer screen.

We do like a road trip. Our favorite kind are the ones where we can set the GPS to the "winding roads" option, thereby avoiding all of the major highways and instead cruising down the back roads and two lane highways. We love looking at the houses, the farms, the fields and the trees, and especially at the wide rivers and rugged coastlines.  We really are so lucky to be able to take the time to make these special trips.  I think if Him Indoors had his way, we'd just buy a huge RV and be on the road permanently.

The purpose of this particular trip was bittersweet.  We were going to attend a family reunion in New Hampshire to celebrate my dear grandmother Jane's 99th birthday.  Sadly, she passed away just two weeks before the gathering.  We decided to get together anyway... not for a funeral but for a memorial celebration of her life.  She would have had it no other way.  It was so wonderful to see all of my aunts and uncles and cousins who I have not seen in too long.  We vowed to continue "reuning" every few years. When the matriarch of the family goes, it's often too easy to grow apart.  We intend to buck that trend and are already planning a reunion in North Carolina in 2016. Yay!  

Him Indoors also got to meet one of the chaps he's working with at his new job, which he started on our return, and which he is loving.  I am so glad he's found something that excites him.  I was able to spend some precious time with my mother, which was lovely.

So here is a short reprise and some random shots I took along the way.

Love you, grandma!

a. First day of the trip and Billie is in her Halloween scarf.

b. Sometimes when you set the GPS to "winding roads" you end up on dirty back roads. Fun!

c. Him Indoors did most of the driving. What a hero.

d. Sweatman's BBQ in Holly Hill, SC.  Worth a detour!

e. Good craft beers at the Irish pub in Keene NH with my cousins and second cousins.

f. Sweet potato casserole and collards at Skipper's Fish Camp in Darien, GA.

g. My favourite cousin, Deirdre, and my father at my grandmother's memorial party.

h. The dockside in Darien, GA.  What a glorious first day of our roadtrip!

i. Me at Chef & The Farmer restaurant in Kinston, NC.  Can you tell I'm excited? I think it was the best meal I've had in the last year.

j. Homemade nana puddin' and cupcakes at Merritt's in Chapel Hill, NC. So good, as was their famous BLT.

k. Passing by the site of my first tattoo in Blackwood, NJ.  I have since had it covered with something much nicer!

l. Meatloaf sandwich and mashed potatoes at the Chelsea Royal Diner in Battleboro, VT. A perfect meal for a cold day.

m. Billie basking in the Georgia sun.

n. Crossing the Hudson River in Newburgh, NY

o. Marlboro headquarters in Richmond, VA

p. Beautiful Autumn colors everywhere

q. Carey's Camp, Millsboro, DE - a Methodist meeting camp founded in 1888.

r. Our van and the trailer that followed us back from NH with some of my grandmother's treasures in it

s. Tourist kitsch on the NY-VT state line

t. Pepsi and peanut float at the Boiler Room in Kinston, NC

u. Beautiful colors of leaves in Virginia

v. Hot Dog break in Newburgh, NY

w. Him Indoors and the pup taking a stroll by the river in Kinston NC

x. My niece Mackenzie making friends in NH

y. Our ringside seats at Chef & The Farmer let us look right into the kitchen. Such fun!

z. Lunch at The Odd Fellows cafe, Smyrna DE

1. Him Indoors took a solo trip up to Brooklyn while I visited my mother in NJ

2. Cousins Erik, Justin and Renee at my grandmother's memorial.